Classic Rock 93.9

On This Day, June 18, 2015…

Van Morrison and the late Jerry Garcia were celebrated at the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction gala in New York City.

Morrison, known for writing such songs as “Gloria,” “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Moondance” and more, was honored with the Johnny Mercer Award for songwriting excellence at the ceremony. He was previously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Michael Bublé honored Morrison at the ceremony with a performance of “Moondance.”

Garcia, who passed away in 1995, and his Grateful Dead songwriting partner Robert Hunter were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Country star Zac Brown performed “Casey Jones” in celebration of the pair, while Hunter was on hand to perform “Ripple.”

Cyndi Lauper, Linda Perry, Toby Keith, Willie Dixon and Bobby Braddock were among the other inductees that year.

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A new trailer has been released for the livestream of Black Sabbath‘s upcoming Back to the Beginning concert.

The 40-second clip, which you can watch now on YouTube, teases “the biggest metal event of all time,” which features the reunion and farewell of original Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, as well as Ozzy’s final performance ever.

“It’s time to go back to the beginning,” Ozzy says in the trailer.

The bill also includes Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax and Mastodon, among many others. Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello will be the show’s musical director.

Back to the Beginning takes place July 5 in Sabbath’s hometown in Birmingham, England, and the stream begins that day at 10 a.m. ET. For more info, visit BacktotheBeginning.com.

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We are finally getting our first look at footage of Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen.

The trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere has just been released. The film follows The Boss’ efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska, and the trailer features footage of White recording songs on a four-track recorder in his bedroom, walking around Asbury Park, New Jersey, with a blonde woman, and more, ending with him triumphantly on stage singing “Born to Run.”

It also includes clips of Jeremy Strong as Bruce’s manager Jon Landau and in a voiceover Landau explains to a record executive why Bruce decided to make the record.

“Here’s what I want you to understand. This is not about either one of us. It’s not about the charts,” he says. “This is about Bruce Springsteen. And these are the songs he wants to work on right now.”

He then tells a story about how Bruce grew up with a hole in the floor of his bedroom, cut with flashbacks to Bruce as a child.

“The floor, it’s supposed to be solid. You’re supposed to be able to stand on it. Bruce, he didn’t have that,” Landau says. “Bruce is a repairman, and what he’s doing with this album, is he’s repairing that hole in his floor. He’s repairing that hole in himself. And once he’s done that, he’s gonna repair the entire world.”

The clip is soundtracked to the Springsteen songs “Nebraska” and “Born to Run.” White is doing his own singing in the film.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, hits theaters Oct. 24.

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In the ongoing debate of The Beatles versus The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart has picked sides.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 2, Rod was asked by U.K. pop star Robbie Williams which of the two legendary bands he would choose to front if he could — and Rod didn’t have trouble deciding.

“Yeah, I would have liked to have fronted The Stones, you know, because they were a London band and we all loved them,” Stewart said. He noted members of his own band, Faces, were big fans of The Stones’ 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out.

“It was a big influence with us when we used to go onstage,” he explained. “So definitely The Stones.”

That influence certainly seemed to help Rod’s Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood, who went on to become a member of The Stones.

Williams also asked Stewart to choose which other band from musical history he would want to front. He said that he “would have loved to have sung” with artists like Duke Ellington or Count Basie.

“Or maybe been the other half of Sam & Dave,” he added, referring to the famed R&B duo. “You know, Sam & Rod.”

Next up, Stewart is set to headline the Legends slot at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on June 29. His tour returns to the U.S. on July 5 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at RodStewart.com.

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REO Speedwagon’s original frontman Terry Luttrell is recuperating in the hospital after wrecking his car on the way home from an REO Speedwagon reunion event Saturday in the band’s hometown of Champaign, Illinois.

Luttrell tells The News-Gazette that he fell asleep at the wheel after getting little sleep following the band’s performance at the State Farm Center.

“It just happened,” Luttrell said. “I nodded off. I rolled the car over, and I woke up and I was in a cocoon (the airbags). Unfortunately it totaled the car.”

“I was able to get up and get out of the car,” he added. “The airbag went off and cracked my sternum a little bit. I have a little back pain and neck pain. It’s nothing that can’t be overcome.”

Luttrell is currently recuperating at Carle Foundation Hospital, and is expected to spend a few days there.

The REO Speedwagon event, Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon – A Concert Event – Back Where it All Began, featured Luttrell, REO Speedwagon members Bruce Hall and Neal Doughty and others. One person who was not there was REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin, who was in Bend, Oregon, performing on his tour with Styx.

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The Police’s Sting and Andy Summers have reunited for a new cover of the band’s tune “Murder by Numbers.”

The former bandmates, who last played together during The Police’s 2007-08 reunion tour, both appear on a new version of the track. It was recorded by big band bassist Christian McBride for his upcoming album, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1., due out Aug. 29.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have Sting and Andy Summers — two-thirds of one of the most influential bands in history, The Police — join me for one of their songs,” McBride shares. “Sting continues to evolve gracefully as an artist, and Andy still plays with the sophisticated fire and grit he has always possessed.”

McBride’s version of “Murder by Numbers” is available now via digital outlets.

“Murder by Numbers” was recorded during sessions for The Police’s fifth and final album, 1983’s Synchronicity. The jazz-inspired tune wound up being a B-side to their #1 hit “Every Breath You Take,” and was a bonus track on the album’s CD and cassette release.

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Bob Dylan appears on Barbra Streisand’s upcoming duets album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, and apparently their collaboration was a long time in the making.

Dylan previously said he wrote the song “Lay Lady Lay” for her to sing and had reached out about them singing together. In a new interview with The New Yorker, Babs talks about that early connection with Dylan.

“The fun thing is that we were both nineteen years old, in Greenwich Village, never met each other,” she tells the mag. “I remember him sending me flowers and writing me a card in different-color pencils, like a child’s writing: ‘Would you sing with me?’”

She adds, “I thought, What would I sing with him? How could we get together on this? I couldn’t understand it at that time.”

On Streisand’s album, she and Dylan collaborate on the song “The Very Thought of You,” which she calls a “wonderful” choice.

“Bob loved that song. He’s very shy, like I am. But he was wonderful to work with,” she says. “I was told that he didn’t want any direction. But when I talked to him about things that I suggested, he was so pliable—he was so open to suggestions.”

“Everything I heard about him just went out the window,” she notes. “He stood on his feet for three hours with me. … It was just an extraordinary three hours.”

The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two will be released June 27 and is available for preorder now. In addition to Dylan, it has Babs collaborating with Paul McCartney, Sting, James Taylor and others.

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Liquid Death may be going off the rails with its latest collaboration.

Known primarily for selling canned water, Liquid Death is also the company behind the Pit Diaper and the Travis Barker signature enema kit. Now, it’s announced Infinitely Recyclable Ozzy — cans of Liquid Death iced tea featuring the actual DNA of Ozzy Osbourne.

As a commercial explains, the Prince of Darkness personally drank and crushed 10 cans of Liquid Death iced tea, leaving behind “trace DNA from his saliva that you can now own.”

“Now, when technology and federal law permits, you’ll be able to replicate Ozzy Osbourne and enjoy him for hundreds of years into the future,” the ad says, though a disclaimer on the Liquid Death website notes, “DNA integrity and cloning results not guaranteed.”

All 10 of the Infinitely Recyclable Ozzy cans are sold out. They went for $450 a pop.

In addition to drinking a fair amount of iced tea, Ozzy is preparing for Black Sabbath‘s big reunion/farewell show in July. The concert will mark Ozzy’s final live performance.

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Paul McCartney has gotten a shoutout from Beyoncé.

Beyoncé wrapped up a six-night stand of her Cowboy Carter tour in London on Monday and took to Instagram to thank McCartney for writing The Beatles track “Blackbird,” which she covers.

“Thank you, Sir Paul McCartney, for writing one of the best songs ever made,” she wrote. “Every time I sing it I feel so honored.”

The post included pictures of Bey in one of her stage outfits, fringed chaps with a white T-shirt with blackbirds, which apparently was designed by McCartney’s designer daughter, Stella McCartney.

“And it is a full circle moment to wear your beautiful daughter’s design,” she added in the post.

Bey’s cover, retitled “Blackbiird,” appeared on her Cowboy Carter album. At the time of its release, McCartney praised her take on the song in a social media post.

“I am so happy with @beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird,'” McCartney posted on Instagram. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”

He added, “I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!”

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We’re finally going to get our first look at the upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as The Boss and Jeremy Strong as his manager, Jon Landau.

Twentieth Century Studios shared a teaser on Instagram, announcing that the trailer for the film will be out on Wednesday.

The teaser shows someone loading a cassette labeled Colts Neck Demo into a player. When they hit play, the Nebraska session version of “Born in the U.S.A.” plays.

Deliver Me From Nowhere, based on Warren Zanes‘ book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, follows Springsteen’s efforts to make his 1982 solo album, Nebraska. 

The album featured 10 acoustic songs Springsteen originally recorded as demos on a four-track recorder. Springsteen had planned to rerecord them with the E Street Band but instead released them as a solo acoustic record.

Some of the songs on the demo that didn’t make it on Nebraska were later rerecorded with the band and wound up on Springsteen’s multi-Platinum #1 record, Born in the U.S.A.

The film, directed by Scott Cooper, also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Odessa Young, Stephen Graham and Johnny Cannizzaro. It hits theaters Oct. 24.

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